Francesco Melani studied harpsichord with Francesco Baroni and Frédérick Haas, composition with Luca Tessadrelli, Roberto Andreoni and Roberto Sansuini, piano with Giampaolo Nuti and Jazz piano with Alberto Tacchini. He made his debut as a soloist in 2007, from there his activity has seen him engaged as a performer, soloist and in chamber ensembles as well as a composer. He has performed in festivals and music festivals such as Festival Verdi, ParmaFrontiere Jazz Festival, Bologna Festival, Rondò 2018, Serate Musicali di Milano, Misano Piano Festival, Farnese Festival, FestiVita, Marco Scacchi International early music festival… A guest of Franco Maria Ricci’s Labyrinth, he gave an entirely improvised concert. In 2014, as the first part in the Conservatory Orchestra he took part in the production of Luciano Berio’s “Rendering” and, under the direction of M. Danilo Grassi, collaborated with the Conservatory’s Contemporary Music Ensemble in the productions “Elio is Frankenstein,” “Frank Zappa, The Yellow Shark” and a monographic project addressed to the figure of composer Paolo Castaldi; he is among the composers selected in the project “It’s Our Time! Integration to the rhythm of music,” promoted by SIAE and Fondazione Arturo Toscanini.

He was a guest of the Institute of Italian Culture in London where he gave a masterclass and a concert dedicated to Pizzetti’s “Murder in the Cathedral.” He curated the music for the show “My Time is Today,” dedicated to George Gershwin, staged at Teatro Due in Parma. In 2021 he was artist-in-residence for “Creative Tools,” an initiative promoted by the Curci Association of Barletta. Between 2021 and 2022 he was invited to perform at the presentation of the latest volume of Scarlatti’s Sonatas edited by Emilia Fadini and at the presentation of the book “Ricordati di Bach” by A. Cappagli. He has worked as a harpsichordist for the early music department of the Conservatory of Parma, gaining significant experience in vocal and instrumental repertoires from the 1600s to the 1700s. He has recently performed as harpsichordist and organist with the Par.M.A. Early Music Ensemble with programs dedicated to Corelli’s Concerti Grossi, “The Mourning of the Universe” (Oratorio composed by Leopold I) and 18th-century Emilian composers whose music is preserved at the Palatina Library in Parma. In 2023 he won the Wanda Landowska International Harpsichord Competition. To this day he devotes himself to his deepest passions, the study and performance of early music and composition.